Republicans are now back in control of the New York State Senate. The question of the hour – have both Democrat and Republican senators learned their respective lessons? Will they get down to the peoples business and seriously discuss how to reform state government? Here are some popular ideas yet to be implemented.
Will they support legislation and amend the state constitution to allow the governor the right to call for a special election in the event a vacancy occurs for United States senator, office of state comptroller, state attorney general or lieutenant governor as he can do when a seat in the state Legislature becomes vacant.
Any lieutenant governor can cast the tie breaking vote in a state Senate session avoiding gridlock. A special election would allow the voters, rather than the legislature to choose.
There are more lobbyists in the Albany “State Street” “Pay for Play” crowd than any other place in America outside of Washington D.C.’s infamous “K” Street. Will the governor, comptroller, attorney general and members of the state Legislature have the courage to stand up to those who routinely finance their re-election campaigns in exchange for favorable legislation, tax code changes, funding of pet projects, award of so called “sole-source bids” and pension enhancements for the special interest constituents they represent?
Other reform should include passage of a balanced budget on April 1 with adequate time for reporters, good government groups, ordinary citizens and members of the legislature to read the fine print before adoption rather than the usual midnight vote behind closed doors.
Each year the Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker give out several hundred million dollars worth of member items (state pork) to their loyal followers, who vote as directed. The Democratic senators and Republican assembly members (who are the minority in their respective chambers) are lucky to get table scraps.
The majority leaders routinely prevent any bills proposed by members of the minority party in their respective chambers from ever coming out of committee for a full vote. Minority members get the short end of the stick when it comes to office budgets, space, staffing and mailings versus those members in the majority. Will “to the majority goes the spoils” philosophy finally end?
Real bipartisan legislative reforms would include minority party members of either chamber being allowed to propose legislation out of committee, permitting a full vote on any proposed legislation along with comparable office budgets, space, staffing and mailings as members of the majority.
When will there be a law passed in Albany requiring all members of the state Legislature holding a second job to report information about income, hours worked and any potential conflicts of interest between employers benefiting from favorable legislation or pork barrel member item spending?
In 1812, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting bill allowing his party to rig the drawing of district boundaries in their favor. This practice is commonly known as gerrymandering today.
After the 2010 census – who will support removing the redistricting power from the Senate and Assembly leadership along with the governor? Will they consider allowing the League of Women voters or some other impartial group to redraw district boundaries preventing incumbents of both parties from stacking the deck in their favor?
Republicans in the Senate would probably lose a number of seats they have historically gerrymandered including Marty Golden of Brooklyn along with several Long Island and Hudson Valley seats. Democrats would probably end up controlling the state Senate by several seats.
On the other hand, Republican state Assembly members might be able to increase their beleaguered numbers from today’s 50 versus 100 Democrats. Several decades ago, there were nine New York City-based GOP Assembly members including four from Queens along with a larger Long Island contingent. Today, there are only two GOP Staten Island seats out of 61 from NYC and a far smaller Long Island contingent. With a fair fight, Democrats would still control the Assembly, but by a lesser margin. This would afford Republicans opportunity to play a real role rather than continue being irrelevant.
There is still time for political redemption. The only power voters have is in 2012 when the incumbent members of the legislature are up for re-election. If they don’t deliver between now and then, the only way to obtain real change is to fire those incumbents. Perhaps it is time to give a new generation of elected officials a chance.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
